Albert Breer
As I did last year, I'll assemble my mock drafts based not on my own opinion, but on the opinions of people positioned squarely in the NFL trenches of talent evaluation. And so here we are, rolling out Mock 1.0 before the 2012 season is even complete.

Maybe the most interesting thing is that, after talking/emailing/texting with a handful of NFL executives and scouts before filing the final version of this mock, I had to remove all quarterbacks from the first round. My gut feeling is that someone, through this long process, will get pushed up. That always seems to happen, once coaches and higher-level folks get their hands on the board. But the fact is that no one I communicated with this morning thought there was a quarterback worthy of going on Day 1. As one AFC exec said, "There's a very good chance none go (in the first round). I don't know who the top one is -- total crapshoot. Geno (Smith)? (Matt) Barkley? (Mike) Glennon? (Landry) Jones? It's a toss-up."

That'll be part of the intrigue of the 2013 NFL Draft process: watching to see if clubs can resist the urge to reach at the game's most important position, maintaining the discipline to stick to what their scouts and college directors are telling them. And what are those guys telling them now? Maybe that things should go down a little like this ...

Thanks D. There's three that really stood out. Cooper and Fisher, along with Patterson top ten. Milliner top 5 and Mingo still top 5 is also something. This kind of thing is more interesting for where they've got the prospects then what team he's actually got them going to. And I'm not buying the no QBs thing at all.

For the Browns, around mid season I was pimping a WR first and Keenan Allen but Gordon and Little played pretty well down the stretch. Either he didn't get that or he's factoring the loss of Cribbs and the need for more speed on offense.

I've been seeing Eddie Lacy popping up at the end of round one in a lot of drafts lately. Cordarelle Patterson at 6 is surprising, but he seems like a players who's in the process of getting talked up a lot of draft boards. I like seeing no quarterbacks.

I've been seeing Eddie Lacy popping up at the end of round one in a lot of drafts lately. Cordarelle Patterson at 6 is surprising, but he seems like a players who's in the process of getting talked up a lot of draft boards. I like seeing no quarterbacks.

I had him at 8 in my latest mock I think. The combination of size and speed is going to catapult him I don't think 6 is out of the question. This of course is assuming he destroys the combine.

My knee-jerk reaction was REAAAAAAAAAACH but in a lot of ways he's a wide receiver equivalent of Cam Newton in terms of his prospect profile. Physical marvel who moves way better than you think he should be able to for the way he's built. JUCO transfer, but he dominated at that level of play, too, and contributed in a variety of ways - same as at Tennessee.

I would really rather have Cooper than Warmack, but I could see that happening. I love a lot of the talent they've pushed into the first round. But then watch the combine happen and all of this change drastically...